GOP chief of staff resigns amid federal probe

Updated 11:36 pm, Thursday, February 20, 2014

HARTFORD -- The chief of staff for House Republicans abruptly resigned Thursday afternoon amid an apparent corruption investigation that brought federal agents to the Capitol complex for the second consecutive day.

George Gallo, former state GOP chairman, quit his $148,000 position the day after federal investigators looking into printing contracts in the House Republican minority served subpoenas to the caucus' offices.

Gallo admitted he is a "person of interest" in the second campaign scandal to rock the Capitol in the last two years.

This time, it apparently involves contracts with an out-of-state consultant and printer over a lucrative lock on running House direct-mail campaigns that brought the company about $2 million over the last six years.

Federal agents returned to the Legislative Office Building Thursday for a noontime meeting with General Assembly leaders to set parameters for seizing computer equipment at a time when lawmakers are in the first month of the 13-week session.

The Clearwater firm handled strategy and postage for dozens of House Republicans, who traditionally depend on bulk mailings to reach voters in their districts, which have about 24,000 residents. The firm appears in more than 500 Republican House campaign documents on file with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

The company returned about $26,000 in recent years to House Republicans for overpayments, according to State Elections Enforcement Commission records.

The figure includes $300 to House Minority Leader Lawrence F. Cafero Jr., R-Norwalk; more than $4,000 to Rep. Fred Camillo, R-Greenwich; and $1,518 after the 2008 election campaign of Rep. DebraLee Hovey, R-Monroe, who announced Wednesday she would not seek re-election this year.

Cafero said his 53-member caucus is cooperating fully with the probe.

"Yesterday the FBI came to the LOB to interview various members of our caucus relating to an inquiry into campaign vendor mailings," Cafero said in a statement released late Thursday afternoon, following a closed-door staff meeting.

Cafero quoted Gallo, 45, of East Hampton, as saying he was a person of interest in the investigation.

"As such, he indicated that he did not want to cause unwarranted distractions to the caucus that would take away from their legislative duties," Cafero said. "For that reason, and for personal family considerations, he tendered his resignation and it was accepted, effective at midnight tonight."

Camillo on Thursday said he returned the money to the Citizens Election Fund, the publicly funded election system, in which House members raise thresholds of $5,000 in $100 contributions to trigger $27,000 in funding.

The refunds, he said, were for mailings that did not go out.

The arrival of FBI agents in the Capitol complex comes two years after the federal probe into corruption in the former congressional campaign of Christopher G. Donovan, of Meriden, the former speaker of the House.

Although he was never implicated, Donovan's finance director and campaign manager are serving federal prison terms after accepting money from Waterbury smoke shop owners who wanted to influence pending legislation in 2012.

During that investigation, Cafero was the target of an attempted sting involving campaign cash that he turned down.

In 2004, amid an impeachment investigation, John G. Rowland resigned as governor and later pleaded guilty to corruption charges, including the acceptance of $90,000 in luxury air flights from Key Air of Oxford, which received million-dollar tax breaks under his administration.

In another example of pay-to-play uncovered by the FBI, a New Britain-based contractor that installed improvements on Rowland's summer cottage at Bantam Lake won a $56-million no-bid state contract to built a youth detention facility.